Switch Checking If Software Can Be Played

My family was excited about the Burrow Co-op Multiplayer feature of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, merely once the game finally downloaded we faced a couple days of frustration and disappointment due to the console announcing "This user cannot play this software" whatever fourth dimension one of my kids attempted to play the game.

Afterward a lot of web searching and poking through forum threads we're finally able to play this game as a family, and I wanted to describe how I stock-still it in example other people out there experience the same problem.

We own two Switch consoles. The first i we got is the Nintendo Switch with Gray Joy-Cons, which belongs to the kids, and the second one is the Nintendo Switch with Neon Blue and Neon Red Joy-Cons, which belongs to me.

I purchased Animal Crossing: New Horizons on my Switch. After a very painful download procedure (it took iii re-tries and some Internet settings tweaks before the game finally downloaded), I was able to play the game merely fine. I reached the point where my graphic symbol became the "resident representative," which is an credible requirement before other users are able to visit your i-and-only isle. However, after I quit my game and handed the console to my daughter, when she launched the game and selected her user profile, the switch said "This user cannot play this software," and that she would demand to purchase a copy at the Nintendo e-Store. My son had the same results when attempting to play using his contour.

The Cause: My Switch was not my "Primary Console"

Here are some quick details about our setup, and then you tin compare confronting your own situation to encounter if the solution that worked for me volition piece of work for you:

My copy of New Horizons was a digital purchase (not a cartridge).
My user profile on that panel (the one with ruby-red and blue Joy-Cons) is a linked account, with full east-Store privileges. My kids' profiles on that console are not linked; they're just local accounts.
Although this was "my" Switch, it was non the first Switch I had created a linked profile on. When we first bought the other Switch for the kids, I created a contour on that device and linked it to my Nintendo business relationship so I could purchase games for them to play on it. This is important: Since I had already created a linked profile on my kids' Switch, as far every bit Nintendo was concerned, their Switch was my "Primary Console."

So here'due south what was happening: Even though I was the user who purchased New Horizons, since my Switch was not registered as my principal console, I was the only user immune to play e-Shop-purchased games on that device. If I had downloaded New Horizons onto my kids' Switch instead, we would all have been able to play the game.

The Solution: Registering my Switch equally the Primary Console

In order to make it then we could all play the game on my console I had to de-register my kids' Switch from my Nintendo account, and so register my own Switch as the primary. Here's how I did that:

On a spider web browser I logged into my Nintendo Account.
In one case logged into the main Nintendo Account page, I clicked the Store Bill of fare link.
On the Shop Menu page, I scrolled downwardly then clicked Deregister Main Console.
Side by side, I got onto my Switch, and under my ain user contour, I opened the Nintendo eShop app. Nothing obvious happened; I didn't become any message proverb, "This device is now your master panel" or annihilation. But apparently this was enough, because according to Nintendo, after de-registering from ane Switch console, just launching the eShop on another Switch where y'all take a linked profile volition automatically annals that device equally the new master.

As I write this my son's Brute Crossing character is running around and pulling up weeds on my island. I exercise hope this helps others running into the aforementioned consequence. It would exist dainty if the Switch'south error letters were more clear about what the existent trouble was.

Update: I forgot to add together when initially writing this that if your Switch frequently says, "Checking if software can be played" when you launch a title, that's an indication that y'all are not using your registered primary panel. I used to encounter this all the fourth dimension when launching my digital downloads, just did not realize it was a hint that something was wrong. At present that my personal Switch is my main device, my downloaded titles launch instantly.